Langston Hughes

TORRINGTON — The second annual pasta and meatball benefit dinner for FOCUS Center for Autism was an outstanding success, surpassing last year's fundraiser by thousands of dollars.

Organized by Ric McAllister and the Bearded Villains of New England, the event took place on Sunday, Jan. 28, at Chatterley's Banquet Facility in Torrington. Last year, the charity dinner raised nearly $7,000, so this year the goal was increased to $10,000. Thanks to the children and adults of all ages who came out to support the nonprofit FOCUS Center for Autism in Canton, that goal was exceeded by raising a grand total of...

Related "Langston Hughes" Articles

Bearded Villains Raise Money For FOCUS Center For Autism
TORRINGTON — The second annual pasta and meatball benefit dinner for FOCUS Center for Autism was an outstanding success, surpassing last year's fundraiser by thousands of dollars.
Organized...

Substance Abuse Support Group
WEST HARTFORD — A free open support group for parents concerned about substance abuse will host weekly meetings every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the offices of The Next Right Thing. LLC, 345 North Main St., Suite...

In her new one-woman show “Feeding the Dragon” — at Hartford Stage through Feb. 4, en route to off Broadway — Sharon Washington could hardly be more ingratiating. Or more present. Or more active.
Washington walks onto the stage while the theater’s...

If reading is fundamental and knowledge is power, why are prisons banning books around the country?
That question was front and center this week after news that two New Jersey prisons had banned Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow: Mass...

The great African-American writers James Baldwin and Richard Wright began their feud over Wright's novel "Native Son," at Cafe Les Deux Magots. Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis held hands with his white girlfriend, French actress Juliette Greco, while strolling...

A painter's ladder rests against the wall in a back parlor. Tape guards the trim in the front parlor. Upstairs, Maura Hallisey, program coordinator for Salons at Stowe, is awaiting a display case that will hold a first edition of "Uncle Tom's Cabin."...

The Windsor Human Relations Committee closed out Black History Month with a talk by Dr. Laura Nash, a professor of music at Fairfield University. The talk was held at the town hall on Feb. 25. Nash leads a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)...

Read any good books lately, or any awful ones? If you'd like to share your opinions about good and bad books, you can do so on Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 7 p.m., at a free program at Prosser Public Library, 1 Tunxis Ave., Bloomfield.
Readers are welcome to...

Fruitcake. It's the butt of jokes this time of year.
But in Dresden, Germany, fruitcake — or, more properly, stollen — is the food of kings. And the stuff of celebrations.
On Dec. 3, Dresden honors its beloved fruitcake with the annual Stollenfest,...

When it comes to safaris, you generally think of African countries like Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa or Botswana. But Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is teeming with wildlife that will quicken the pulse of any wildlife lover. The island nation...

ExperiencePlus! has been organizing bicycle tours since 1972. Recently the company has expanded its portfolio with ExpeditionPlus tours that push the envelope. These are for hardcore cyclists looking for extreme explorations on two wheels. A new...

About now, we're all kicking ourselves. Why did we agree to host Thanksgiving dinner? The meal is the least of it, of course. There are so many dishes, towels and sheets to wash; so many other meals to plan for guests. Why did millions of us -- 48.7...

Here are some of the more interesting events, deals, websites and other travel tidbits that have come across our desk recently:
•If you're looking for a break from holiday-related events for the kids, the Betty Brinn Children's Museum in Milwaukee has...

It would be impossible to capture the essence of the Smithsonian Museum's new African-American history museum in just one of the more than 3,000 artifacts on display.
Do you nominate the slave cabin in juxtaposition with the freedman's cabin a floor...

HARTFORD — Some of the 50 graduates of the Culinary Arts Academy shed tears and others did a little danced while taking their seats at the academy's seventh commencement.
Graduates were told by the speakers to find a sense of purpose in life and to...

The year had a beginning. And in that moment, there was only one album I could listen to — D'Angelo's "Black Messiah," the soundtrack for my last winter in New York. Moving to L.A., though, erased much of what came before. When I think of 2015, the...

One development in the classical-music Grammys during the last several years has been the inclusion of more diverse corners of this vast field. For many, that is a good thing — better than having Georg Solti (still the all-time Grammys champ), Vladimir...

Leon Bibb, a Tony-nominated actor and folk singer who grew up under segregation, found mainstream favor on the "The Ed Sullivan Show" and sang with Joan Baez and Harry Belafonte on the civil rights trail, has died at 93.
A stirring baritone who learned...